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Trad climbing at Balmanolesca, Italy

As anticipated, here is the second of two articles that concentrates on crags ideally suited for beginners who wish to learn how to crack climb on trad gear, without having to climb extreme routes. In my first article I introduced a number of "easy" cracks at the Crack Party sector at Cadarese. As mentioned, although these weren’t particularly they were nevertheless perfect for teaching jamming techniques for crack climbing. Unfortunately there aren’t many simple routes of this sort in Northern Italy and Cadarese is certainly considered one of Italy’s crack climbing gems, so why not give it a go? But if we analyze crack climbing from a learning point of view, and not the athletic performance, perhaps we could include those crack climbs that, in the past, were equipped with bolts as sport climbs. If you climb one of these routes placing your own gear, and doing without the bolts, then the style of ascent is considered a “greenpoint".

This style was defined only a few years ago and was coined by those climbers who wanted to repeat a sports climb using trad gear only, without however altering the original nature of the route, i.e. by removing the bolts at a later stage. One of the most famous examples of greenpoint is certainly Arnaud Petit’s ascent of Black Bean at Ceuse, carefully documented in his beautiful video. For obvious reasons greenpoint doesn’t convince hardened trad climbers (since repeating a route with bolts, even if they’re not used, doesn’t provide the same challenge for everyone, and from a psychological point of view the climbing is less committing). Nevertheless, this style is very useful for those who want to learn how to trad climb with, if necessary, a safe backup (the bolt), when they’re not totally sure their protection will hold a fall.

One of the crags which bets suits this greenpoint style in Italy is Balmanolesca, also known as Balma 1, not far from Domodossola in NW Italy. This is an historic crag, where almost all the climbs were bolted in the ’80s and ’90s. A number of routes climb splitter crags, perfectly suited for learning how to hand and fist jam. Until only recently no one had ever thought seriously about greenpointing these cracks, but in 2011 Yuji Hirayama stunned everyone by climbing Profondo Rosso (8a+) on his second attempt with only 7 friends, so much so that they placed a plaque (which was subsequently removed) at the base of the route to honour this amazing ascent.

Balma is particularly easy to access (you park the car in a meadow at the base) and is located at an altitude of only 600m. Unfortunately it never receives the sun in winter and consequently it remains rather damp, meaning that it’s ideal for spring and autumn. By contrast, as long as it’s not pouring, you can climb a good deal of routes even in the rain. Even if the routes are never simple, it’s an ideal crag to learn how to crack climb on trad gear. The bolts on most of these climbs can be used as a backup if you don’t feel 100% safe.

To get a good idea of the crag I’ve tried to list all the possible trad routes, even the difficult ones. Certainly there’ll be some that I’ve forgotten to mention, but I’ve wanted to include only those that can be climbed with a minimum degree of safety, without becoming dangerous like those on hard grit (an evolution of this sort is still possible). The routes are listed from left to right, the names are written at the base. For further information refer to the guidebook Ossola Rock (September 2014) published by Versante Sud. Have fun!